Fixing member for fixing an object to be attached to a plate and clamp with fixing member

ABSTRACT

A clamp detachable by handling from the front side of a plate is provided. When the main body of the clamp is pressed against the plate with an abutting portion elastically deformed and a connecting portion thrust into an attachment hole, and is moved in the direction parallel to the front and reverse surfaces of the plate, a retaining portion is moved to overlap the reverse surface of the plate with a first and a second projections engaged in locating holes formed in the plate. As a result, the main body is pressed against the front surface of the plate, the retaining portion is pressed against the reverse surface of the plate, and the first and second projections engaged in locating holes prevent displacement in the direction parallel to the front and reverse surfaces of the plate, whereby the clamp is fixed to the plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(i) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a fixing Member for fixing an object toa plate and a clamp with the fixing member.

(ii) Description of the Related Art

Fixing members having a variety of structures have been used for fixingsynthetic resin components such as a clamp or a spacer to a plate suchas a printed circuit board or a housing panel. For example, Publicationof Japanese Examined Utility Model Application No. 1-26140 discloses aclamp, provided with one of these fixing members at each end, forholding two plates in parallel with each other by affixing the fixingmember at each end thereof to the plate

However, the fixing member provided for the clamp disclosed in the abovementioned Publication involves the following problems:

Firstly, although the fixing member can be attached to the plate bysimply inserting the same into an attachment hole from the front side ofthe plates it cannot be detached so easily. Specifically, to detach thefixing member from the plate, it is necessary to reach around to thereverse side of the plate and elastically deform an elastic stopper. Inshort it is impossible to detach the fixing member from the plate onlyfrom the front side of the plate.

Accordingly, if there is not a sufficient space for a hand to beinserted around the reverse side of plate, the plate itself must beremoved to detach the fixing member therefrom. This leads to adisadvantage that, for example, when the fixing member is to beseparately disposed at the time of discarding a product or the fixingmember is to be reused, detachment of the fixing member presents asubstantial amount of trouble.

Secondly, the above fixing member projects to a substantial extent onthe reverse side of the plate, and therefore cannot be employed incompact, thin electronic equipment, for example, where it is difficultto provide enough space on the reverse side of the plate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Wherefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fixingmember easily detachable by handling from the front side of a plate intowhich the fixing member is inserted and enabling reduction of the amountof protrusion thereof on the reverse side of the plate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a clamp havingsuch a fixing member as above.

To attain this and other objects, a fixing member according to thepresent invention comprises a support protruding from the main body, aplate-like portion provided at the end of the support, at least part ofthe plate-like portion extending toward the side direction of thesupport, an extending portion extending from the main body, theextending portion being pressed against the plate and elasticallydeformed when the plate-like portion is inserted into an attachment holeprovided in the plate and allowing the plate-like portion to passtherethrough in order to attach the fixing member to the plate, anabutting portion provided in the plate-like portion for abutting theplate, wherein when the plate-like portion is inserted into theattachment hole and slid in the extending direction of the plate-likeportion in order to elastically deform the extending portion, theabutting portion abuts the plate surface around the circumference of theattachment hole at a predetermined abutting position by receivingelastic restoring force of the extending portion, and displacementpreventing means for preventing the abutting portion from beingdisplaced from the predetermined abutting point.

A variety of elements can be employed as the displacement preventingmeans in the above fixing member. An example of the displacementpreventing means is a projection provided at the end of the extendingportion and engageable with a locating hole provided in the plate.Another example is an engagement projection disposed on the abuttingportion of the plate-like portion so as to face the support andengageable with an engagement hole or an engagement recess provided inthe plate.

In the fixing member, at least part of the main body preferably iselastically deformable. By this, when the main body is pressed againstthe plate, part of the main body is elastically deformed, with theresult that the plate-like member, the support and the engagementprojection are displaced relative to the plate and the engagementprojection is disengaged from the plate.

A clamp according to the present invention is provided by providingattaching means for attaching an object to be fixed on the main body.

One example of the clamp is a spacer formed by providing the fixingmembers at both ends of the main body serving as a support. In thiscase, the spacer is arranged between two plates to affix each fixingmember at each end thereof to each plate. Another example is a cableholder configured by providing the fixing member on the main bodycapable of holding a cable and the like. In this case, by holding thecable with the cable holder fixed to the plate with the fixing member,wiring of the cable over the plate surface is enabled.

A fixing structure according to the present invention comprises aretaining member located separately from and also facing the main bodyfor clamping a component between the retaining member and the main body,a connecting member for connecting the main body to the retaining membersuch that at least part of the component is clamped therebetween, and aprojection provided to the retaining member for being engaged with thecomponent when at least part of the component is clamped between themain body and the retaining member, thereby preventing the object frommoving in the direction of coming out from between the main body and theretaining member. At least part of the main body is elasticallydeformable and when the main body is pressed against the componentsurface, part of the main body is elastically deformed, with the resultthat the retaining member, the connecting member and the projection aredisplaced relative to the, component and the projection is disengagedfrom the component.

In the fixing structure described above, the main body preferably has asecond projection projecting toward the first projection and engageablewith a locating hole provided in the component. Thus, the firstprojection and the second projection cooperatively prevent the componentfurther effectively from coming out from between the main body and theretaining member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D are a front view, a right side view, a bottomview and a sectional view taken along line 1D—1D shown in FIG. 1A,respectively, of a clamp according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2A is a plan view showing a plate with an attachment hole andlocating holes;

FIG. 2B is an explanatory view showing the state of movement of asupport and a circular disc relative to the attachment hole;

FIG. 3A is a front view of a clamp according to a second embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 3B is a bottom view of the clamp of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 3C is a sectional view of the clamp taken along line 3C—3C shown inFIG. 3A;

FIG. 3D is a view taken in the direction of the arrows 3D—3D shown inFIG. 8A;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the state of the clamp according to thesecond embodiment fixed to a plate; and

FIG 5A is a front view showing the state of a clamp as a modifiedexample fixed to the plate; and

FIG. 5B is a front view showing the state of elastic deformation of amain body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

As shown in FIGS. 1A through 1D, clamp 1 is provided with a main body 3capable of holding a bundle of electrical wires by surrounding thebundle and a fixing member 5 provided on the main body 3 for affixingthe main body 3 to a plate 30 (See FIG. 2A). The main body 3 and thefixing member 5 are formed integrally with each other out of a syntheticresin material.

The main body 3 has an approximately C-shaped configuration when seenfrom the front direction, and the bundle of electrical wires can beintroduced into the inside of the main body 3 through the ring openingthereof.

The fixing member 5 comprises a support 11 protruding from a base 38 ofthe main body 3, a circular disc (disc portion) 13 provided at the endof the (support 11, two elastically deformable extending portions 15extending from the base 3 a of the main body 3, and projections 17provided at respective ends of the extending portions 15.

The support 11 has a side surface comprising a first curved surface 11 acorresponding to part of a cylinder and a second curved surface 11 bcorresponding to part of another cylinder An a C1 which is the center ofcurvature of the first curved surface 11 a deviates from an axis C2which is the center of the main body 3. The center of curvature of thesecond curved surface 11 b is located on the axis C2 as the center ofthe main body 3 Either of the curvature radius of the first curvedsurface 11 a and the curvature radius of the second curved surface 11 bcorresponds to the distance between the axis C1 and the axis C2.

The circular disc 13 has the center located on the axis C1 and the sameradius as the curvature radius of the first curved surface 11 a.Therefore, while the support 11 is within the range between the axis C1and the axis C2, part of the circular disc 13 extends toward the sidedirection of the support 11 to outreach the axis C1.

The extending portion 15 is a plate-like portion which curves in thedirection receding from the main body 3 while defining a gentle arc.

The projection 17 has an outer surface configured into a shapecorresponding to part of a sphere.

To attach the clamp 1 having above described structure to a plate 30, acircular attachment hole H1 and two circular locating holes H2 arepreviously bored in the plate, as shown in FIG. 2A. The attachment holeH1 has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the circular disc13. The locating hole H2 has a diameter slightly larger than thediameter of the projection 17 The distance between the attachment holeH1 and the locating hole H2 is determined in accordance with thedistance between the circular disc 13 and the projection 17.

When the circular disc 13 and the support 11 are inserted into theattachment hole H1 from the front side of the plate 30, the projections17 provided at respective ends of the extending portions 15 abut thesurface of the plate 30, with the result that the extending portions 15are elastically deformed and the projections 17 become pressed againstthe surface of the plate 30. When the clamp 1 (the fixing member 5) isthen slid in the direction parallel with the surface of the plate 30, anabutting portion 13 a of the circular disc 13 extending toward the side7,direction of the support 11 is moved to the point where it overlapsthe plate, and the abutting portion 13 a abuts the surface of the plate30 around the circumference of the attachment hole H1 in the plate 30.

At the same time, the projections 17 are moved until they are positionedexactly in the locating holes H2, Then, the projections 17, which arebiased by the elastically deformed extending portions 15, engage withthe locating holes H2, with the result that the clamp 1 (the fixingmember 5) is affixed to the plate 30.

When the projections 17 are moved to the locating holes H2, by simplysliding the fixing member 5 along the inner circumference of theattachment hole H1 while keeping the second curved surface 11 b of thesupport 11 in contact with the inner circumference, the projections 17can finally be positioned exactly in the locating holes H2. As a result,subtle adjustment of position is not necessary to ensure engagement ofthe projections 17 with the locating holes H2, and therefore goodoperating efficiency during attaching operation is achieved.

To detach the clamp 1 (the fixing member 5) from the plate 30, whileimposing a force strong enough to make the projections 17 come off thelocating holes H2 on the clamp 1(the fixing member 5), the clamp 1 (thefixing member 5) is slid in the direction parallel with the surface ofthe plate 30. When the circular disc 13 is located exactly in theattachment hole H1, the circular disc 13 and the support 11 can easilybe pulled out of the attachment hole H1 to the front side of the plate30 without having the circular disc 13 caught by the circumference ofthe attachment hole H1.

When the circular disc 13 is moved to the attachment hole H1, by merelymaking the first curved surface 11 a of the support 11 abut the innercircumference of the attachment hole H1, the circular disc 13 can bepositioned exactly in the attachment hole H1. Then, by only pulling thesupport 11 and the circular disc 13 out of the attachment hole H1, thefixing member 5 can be pulled out of the attachment hole H1 withouthaving the circular disc 13 caught by the plate 30. Thus, good operatingefficiency during detaching operation is also achieved.

Unlike the case with a rectangular attachment hole, it is only necessaryto twist the clamp 1 such that the support 11 is turned around the ridge11 c defining the boundary between the first curved surface 11 a and thesecond curved surface 11 b of the support 11, as shown in FIG. 2B,instead of sliding the clamp 1 in a specific direction. When the firstsurface 11 a abuts the inner circumference of the attachment hole H1,the fixing member 5 can be smoothly pulled out of the attachment hole H1by simply pulling the support 11 and the circular disc 13 out of theattachment hole H1.

As described above, the clamp 1 provided with the fixing member 5 can bedetached from plate 30 by mere handling of the same on the front side ofthe plate 30 without reaching around to the reverse side of the plate30. Therefore, even if there is not room enough for a hand to beinserted behind on the reverse side of the plate 30, the clamp 1 (thefixing member 5) can easily be detached. This enables detachment of theclamp 1 with less trouble compared with a conventional clamp when, forexample, the clamp 1 is to be separately disposed at the time ofdiscarding a product, or the clamp 1 is to be reused

Furthermore, the clamp 1 facilitates a relatively small structure of theportion protruding from the reverse side of the plate 30 compared with aconventional clamp, and therefore a small amount of protrusion on thereverse side of the plate 30 can be achieved while ensuring asufficiently high attachment strength and high operating efficiencyduring attaching/detaching operation. Therefore, it is possible tominiaturize electronic equipment by reducing the necessary space on thereverse side of the plate 30.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to thepreferred embodiment, it is to be appreciated that the present inventionshould not be limited to the embodiment and various modifications may bemade.

For example, while the clamp 1 is provided with two projections 17 inthe present embodiment, the number of projections may be one, or threeor more.

Also, while the clamp 1 comprises the circular disc 13 to be caught onthe reverse side of the plate 30, a plate having a polygonal shape suchas a square or one of other shapes may be employed instead of thecircular disc 13. In this case, a hole having the corresponding shape isprovided in the plate 30.

Additionally, while a clamp for holding a bundle of electrical wires isdescribed in the above embodiment, a fixing member according to thepresent invention may be applied to any member to be attached to aplate. One application is a spacer comprising a support provided withfixing members at both ends thereof Such a spacer can beattached/detached by the handling on the front side of the plate andachieve a reduced amount of protrusion on the reverse side of the plate.

Second Embodiment

As shown in FIGS. 3A through 3D, a clamp 100 is provided with a mainbody 103, a connecting portion 105, a retaining portion (disc portion)107, a first projection 109, and a second projection 111, which areformed integrally with one another out of a synthetic resin material.

The main body 103 comprises an electrical wire bundle holding portion103 a having an approximately C-shaped configuration when seen from thefront direction for enabling introduction of an electrical wire bundleinto the inside thereof through the ring opening, and extending portions103 b and 103 c which abut a plate and are elastically deformed whenfixed to the plate.

The connecting portion 105 having a columnar configuration with across-section shown in FIG. 3C, is a support connecting the main body103 with the retaining portion 107 such that at least a part of theplate is clamped therebetween.

The retaining portion 107 having an approximately circular configurationis provided at one end of the connecting portion 105 and includes anabutting portion 107 a which abuts the plate on the upper surfacethereof.

The first projection 109 protrudes from the retaining portion 107 towardthe main body 103, while facing the connecting portion 105.

The second projection 111 is provided at the tip end of the extendingportion

It will now be described how to attach the clamp 100 with reference toFIGS. 3A through 3D and FIG. 4.

When the connecting portion 105 is inserted into an attachment hole 120from the front side of the plate 150, the extending portions 103 b and103 c of the main body 103 abut the front surface of the plate 150 Then,the main body 103 is pressed further to thrust the connecting portion105 back into the attachment hole 120 while thereby elasticallydeforming the extending portions 103 b and 103 c, with the result thatthe retaining portion 107 and the first projection 109 pass through theplate 150 to reach the reverse side thereof.

Subsequently, the main body 103 is moved in the direction parallel withthe front and reverse surfaces of the plate 150 until the firstprojection 109 is stuck in an engagement hole 130 and the abuttingportion 107 a of the retaining portion 107 abuts the reverse surface ofthe plate 150. In this state, the extending portions 103 b and 103 c asparts of the main body 103 are elastically deformed. Such elasticdeformation causes the abutting portion 107 a of the retaining portion107 to be pressed against the reverse surface of the plate 150 andtherefore prevents the connecting portion 105 from moving further in thedirection of being removed from the attachment hole 120. In addition,since the second projection 111 engages with a locating hole 140 formedin the plate 150, the clamp of the plate 150.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the clamp 100 is fixed to the plate150.

To detach the clamp 100 which has been fixed in the above describedmanner from the plate 150, firstly the main body 103 is pressed againstthe front surface of the plate 150 and the extending portions 103 b and103 c are elastically deformed further until the first projection 109 isremoved from the engagement hole 130. While keeping the above state themain body 103 is moved in the direction parallel with the front andreverse surfaces of the plate 150 until the retaining portion 107 ismoved to the point where it does not overlap the reverse surface of theplate 150. This enables the connecting portion 105, the retainingportion 107, and the first projection 109 to be pulled out of theattachment hole 120 toward the front side of the plate 150.

The clamp 100 having the above described fixing structure can bedetached from the plate 150 by mere handling of the same on the frontside of the plate 150 without reaching around to reverse side of theplate 150. Therefore, even if there is not room enough for a hand to beinserted around to the reverse side of the plate 150, the clamp 100 caneasily be detached. This enables detachment of the clamp 100 with lesstrouble compared with a conventional clamp when, for example, the clamp100 and the plate 150 are to be separately disposed at the time ofdiscarding a product, or the clamp 100 is to be reused.

Furthermore, the retaining portion 107 comprising a plate-like memberdisposed in parallel with the front and reverse surfaces of the platefacilitates a relatively small structure of the portion protruding fromthe reverse side of the plate 150, compared with a conventional clamp,thereby achieving a small amount of protrusion on the reverse side ofthe plate 150 Therefore, it is possible to miniaturize electronicequipment by reducing the necessary space on the reverse side of theplate 150.

A further advantage is that displacement of the clamp 100 hardly occursbecause the first projection 109 and the second projection 111cooperatively prevent, on both the front and reverse sides of the plate150, the clamp 100 from moving in the direction parallel with the frontand reverse surfaces of the plate 150.

A modified example shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B will now be described.

A clamp 200 in FIGS. 5A and 5B is provided with an electrical wirebundle holding portion 225, which is made perfectly annular with itsring opening closed when an engaging portion 221 and a portion to beengaged 223 engage with each other. The clamp 200 has a plate-likeportion 220 a in a main body 203 which is elastically deformable,instead of having extending portions which extend from the main body.

The second embodiment described above, each of the outer surface 105 aand the inner surface 105 b of the connecting portion 105 is configuredas part of a cylindrical surface, the same as, in the first embodiment.Accordingly, by taking advantage of these cylindrical surfaces, theeffect of easy attachment described with respect of the first embodimentreferring to FIG. 2B is attained also in the second embodiment.

Although a clamp for holding a bundle of electrical wires is shown ineach of the first and the second embodiments, the fixing structureaccording to the present invention can be employed in any members to beattached to the plate. One application is a spacer comprising a supportprovided with fixing members at both ends thereof. Such a spacer can beattached/detached by handling only from the front side of the plate andachieve a reduced amount of protrusion on the reverse side of the plate.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clamp for affixing an electrical component to aplate, the damp comprising a main body and an integral fixing member;the main body defining a central axis; the fixing member comprising asupport protruding from a base of the main body with a disc portionbeing supported at a remote end of the support; a first and secondelastically deformable portions extending from the base of the mainbody, the second elastically deformable portion having a projection at aremote free end thereof and the first elastically deformable portionextends in a first direction and the second elastically deformableportion extends in a second opposite direction; wherein at least aportion of the support is coincident with the central axis of the mainbody and the disc portion defines a plate axis which is offset from thecentral axis of the main body such that the disc portion is locatedcloser to the first elastically deformable portion than to the secondelastically deformable portion; and a surface of the disc portion,facing the base of the main body, has a locking projection and thelocking projection, once the disc portion passes through a circularattachment hole provided in the plate and the clamp is movedtransversely relative to the plate, continues to space the surface ofthe disc portion facing the base from an undersurface of the plate untilthe looking projection engages with a corresponding engagement holeprovided in the plate whereafter the surface of the disc portion facingthe base and the undersurface of the plate are then allowed to matinglyengage with one another.
 2. The clamp according to claim 1, wherein themain body has a generally C-shaped configuration for supporting theelectrical component once the electrical component passes through anopening of the main body.
 3. The damp according to claim 1, wherein thesupport comprises a first curved surface and a second curved surfacewith the first and second curved surfaces abutting one another alongopposed ridges which define boundaries between the two curved surfaces.4. The clamp according to claim 3, wherein the disc portion is circularand the first curved surface has the same curvature as a curvature ofthe disc portion.
 5. The clamp according to claim 1, wherein both firstand second elastically deformable portions are substantially planarcurved surfaces and each of the curved surfaces defines an arc.
 6. Theclamp according to claim 3, wherein a portion of the first curvedsurface is coincident with the central axis of the main body.
 7. Theclamp according to claim 1, wherein when the clamp is attached to aplate, the first and second elastically deformable portions areelastically deformed and the base of the main body is spaced from theplate by a first distance, and, in order to detach the clamp from theplate, the clamp is moved transversely relative to the plate whichcauses the first and second elastically deformable portions toelastically deform further as the first and second elasticallydeformable portions disengage from corresponding locating holes providedin the plate until the disc portion is aligned with an attachment holeto facilitate removal of the clamp from the plate.
 8. A clamp foraffixing an electrical component to a plate, the clamp comprising a mainbody and an integral fixing member; the main body defining a centralaxis; the fixing member comprising a support protruding from a base ofthe main body with a disc portion being supported at a remote end of thesupport; a first and second elastically deformable portions extendingfrom the base of the main body, the second elastically deformableportion having a projection at a remote free end thereof, and the firstelastically deformable portion extends in a first direction and thesecond elastically deformable portion extends in a second oppositedirection; wherein at least a portion of the support is coincident withthe central axis of the main body and the disc portion defines a plateaxis which is offset from the central axis of the main body such thatthe disc portion is located closer to the first elastically deformableportion than to the second elastically deformable portion; and a surfaceof the disc portion, facing the base of the main body, has a lockingprojection and the locking projection, once the disc portion passesthrough a circular attachment hole provided in the plate and the clampis moved transversely relative to the plate, continues to space thesurface of the disc portion facing the base from an undersurface of theplate until the locking projection engages with a correspondingengagement hole provided in the plate whereafter the surface of the discportion facing the base and the undersurface of the plate are thenallowed to matingly engage with one another; when the clamp is attachedto the plate, the first and second elastically deformable portions areelastically deformed and the base of the main body is spaced from theplate a first distance, and, in order to detach the clamp from theplate, the first and second elastically deformable portions areelastically deformed further such that the base of the main body ismoved closer to the plate, to disengage the locking projection from thecorresponding engagement hole provided in the plate and allow transversemovement of the clamp, relative to the plate, and facilitate removal ofthe clamp from the plate.